Just So Stories

ISBN:9781761181511

Publisher:A&U Children’s

Imprint:A & U Children

September 2026

RRP: $32.99

As soon as I knew this one was on its way, I asked for it because there is absolutely no doubt that Corey Tutt has proven himself to be such an excellent creator of engaging, interesting and meaningful information books – along with his many other talents. And it’s a superlative sequel to The First Scientists.

Just read this from his bio: COREY TUTT OAM is a Kamilaroi man, and the CEO and founder of DeadlyScience, a not-for-profit organisation that aims to provide science resources to remote schools in Australia and connects young First Nations people with mentors in STEM. He was born on Yuin Country in Nowra on the New South Wales south coast, and now lives on Biripi/Dhungatti Country. In 2020, Corey was named the NSW Young Australian of the Year and a Human Rights Hero by the Australian Human Rights Commission. In 2022, Corey received an OAM for service to Indigenous STEM education. He is an A/Prof at Western Sydney University. 

You have, I’m sure, seen at least one of Corey’s books previously but trust me on this, you really need them all on your shelves. They are chockful of the kind of sharing we want for our jarjums, mob or otherwise, to foster their knowledge and understanding of First Nations culture, science, peoples, connection to country, achievements and more.

I especially love that Corey always brings the contemporary to his sharing of traditional knowledge such as with the chapter headings in this one e.g. Before there were supermarkets, Before there were pets with jobs, Before there were influencers. Just this small touch of bringing the now into the past, makes such a huge difference and impact on the readers providing that instant text-to-self/text-to-world/text-to-text connection to which we strive in our teaching.

This only arrived yesterday (10/9) and I spent last evening poring over it with great interest and completely absorbed in learning even more new knowledge about our First Nations peoples. And the illustrations from Jaelyn Biumaiwai are absolutely fantastic – so vibrant and with echoes of those mid-century info books that have always been one of my particular passions.

Like all great info books this one has it all with break-out boxes and sidebars, annotated/captioned ‘close-ups’ and detailed references pages which would be great additions to further inquiry. I particularly enjoyed the chapter Before there were hardware stores, as it put me in mind of a library UoI I ran in my PYP schools parallel to Year 5s investigating their Central Idea: Our beliefs, values and culture may influence the ways in which we interact with and use technology.

While in the classroom they focused on modern technology, I gave the kiddos the options of exploring technology in other civilisations and time periods, giving them two starting points with some basic information. One was Ancient Egypt and the other Aboriginal Australia. These remained the most popular but they all embraced the research with such enthusiasm and wonder, that it was pure joy to see it. And their results were wonderful. I wish now I had photos of some of their work!

There’s a particularly welcome section at the end of the book detailing some of our Deadly Scientists of today [go look at CSIRO for more on that as well] and ideas for your readers on how they can take care of themselves, and Country as well, which is directed intentionally at both mob and non-Indigenous kiddos so is pointedly inclusive. What a treasure trove this one is! Get onto it ASAP before those budgets close for the year and get ready to springboard into some deep thinking and purposeful inquiry – perfect for a term on Passion Projects too! It’s an absolutely unequivocal 5 🔭🌌🧪🪃🌱rating for this one for your mid to upper primary but easily into lower secondary as well – and how wickedly cool is that glow-in-the-dark cover! It would make a cracking stocking stuffer as well!